In the mid-11th century Byzantine politics were dominated by a military aristocracy and court officials; Alexius Comnenus was an army general who forged an alliance between his military supporters and a number of court officials and so won the throne for himself. He succeeded in checking the challenge from the Normans under Guiscard in the Mediterranean but was continually harassed by the threat of barbarian invasions. In 1095 he approached Pope Urban II for help in recruiting mercenaries, a call that led to the First Crusade, which the pope hoped would save the empire from the Seljuk Turks. The Crusade was to Alexius’s advantage and he was able to leave his son John to inherit the Byzantine empire on his death.